Skipperdee's Birthday Tea Parties

Make plans for your next birthday celebration at Skipperdee's in Point Lookout NY with a custom tailored Birthday Tea Party. Book your next birthday event at Skipperdee's and create an afternoon birthday tea party that will captivate and surpass your child's imagination.

Richard Zampella, Proprietor of Skipperdee's ran the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel on Central Park South where he oversaw afternoon tea each day in the Grand Lobby of the Hotel.

Joan Leslie: The Girl Next Door 1925-2015

“We will miss our friend Joan Leslie" one of our guests on Hollywood Film Chatter and an on camera participant on our documentary Sergeant York: Of God and Country.  A wonderfully elegant & sophisticated lady."

How’s this for hitting the ground running? In 1941, at 16, Joan Leslie starred opposite Gary Cooper (Sergeant York) and Humphrey Bogart (High Sierra). At 17, opposite James Cagney (Yankee Doodle Dandy) and Henry Fonda (The Male Animal). And at 18? How about Fred Astaire (The Sky’s The Limit)? And two of Leslie’s co-stars, Cooper and Cagney, won Best Actor Oscars playing opposite her.

Born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel in Detroit, Michigan, Leslie began performing at the age of three as part of a vaudeville act with her two sisters. She began her Hollywood acting career while still a teenager, performing under her real name in several movies, beginning with her debut in the MGM movie (Camille) in 1936 with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor.

In Warners' Hollywood Canteen (1944) Leslie played herself, as did her real-life sister Betty Brodel. When her Warners contract ended in 1947, Leslie free-lanced for several years, turning in an admirable performances in The Woman They Almost Lynched (1956).

A battle with Warner Bros. over her long-term contract ended her tenure there and made it hard for her to find work at the other major studios. She got one good part in the independently produced Repeat Performance (1947), and then ended up at Republic Pictures, where prestige was scarce but some great roles came her way.

Leslie was not afraid to challenge her screen image as the sweet and supportive woman. Looking for richer roles, Leslie went the independent route in the late forties. In 1948’s Northwest Stampede, she plays the foreman of a ranch, every bit as tough as the men. In 1950, she worked with director Nicholas Ray in the underrated film noir, Born To Be Bad.

She starred in many more movies until 1950, when she married Dr. William Caldwell. Her last movie role was in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), and she eventually retired from acting altogether to look after her identical twin daughters Patrice and Ellen. She has appeared in several television commercials since then, and also made guest appearances in the TV shows Murder, She Wrote and Charlie's Angels. She also provided commentary as extras on the Yankee Doodle Dandy, Sergeant York, and High Sierra DVDs.

In recent years, she had a small part in a TV movie remake of Repeat Performance called Turn Back the Clock (1989).

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.

– John Mulholland, 10.15.15

Zampella & Mulholland Press Release for Elmore Leonard Documentary

Richard Zampella & John Mulholland Press Release on Broadway World

Mulholland & Zampella Press Release on Los Angeles CBS Affiliate

LOS ANGELES –– Oct 12, 2105 – Richard Zampella & John Mulholland Elmore Leonard Press Release Being Picked Up By Major Media Outlets Including CBS & Broadway World.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/John-Mulholland-Richard-Zampella-Filming-Interviews-for-Elmore-Leonard-Documentary-20151012

http://www.cbs8.com/story/30237090/writerdirector-john-mulholland-and-producer-richard-zampella-in-los-angeles-filming-interviews-for-elmore-leonard-documentary

John Mulholland wrote/directed the NY Times Critics Pick, Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen, which explores The 20 year friendship of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper. The feature documentary was produced by Richard Zampella at Transmultimedia Entertainment.

Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella in Los Angeles Filming Interviews for Elmore Leonard Documentary

Zampella & Mulholland Wrap West Coast Interviews for Elmore Leonard Documentary

Oct 8, 2015 - LOS ANGELES -- Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella have wrapped up a week in Los Angeles, filming West Coast interviews for their upcoming Elmore Leonard documentary. The interviews explore Leonard’s writing and the numerous film adaptations based on his work, such as: Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out Of Sight, and the FX television series, Justified.

Among those interviewed:

Producer/Writer Gregg Sutter, who served as Leonard’s researcher for more than three decades, is editor and contributor to the Library of America’s three-volume Elmore Leonard Anthology.

Graham Yost created and co-wrote Justified, which concluded its six-season run earlier this year. The series was based on Elmore Leonard's short story, Fire in the Hole. Yost wrote the films, Speed, Broken Arrow and Hard Rain, and worked on such HBO series as Band Of Brothers and The Pacific.

Rachel Howzell Hall is author of the critically-acclaimed Detective Elouise Norton novels, Land of Shadows and Skies of Ash (Forge) -- cited by the LA Times as “Books to Read This Summer” in both 2014 and 2015. Hall’s first novel, A Quiet Storm (Scribner), was a Borders’ Original Voices selection.

Wendy Calhoun, currently co-exec producer on Empire, Fox’s hip-hop smash, was a co-producer, story editor and writer for two seasons on Justified. Calhoun was also a writer and producer on the ABC-TV series, Revenge.

Cheryl Dorsey, retired LAPD Sergeant, is author of Black & Blue: The Creation of a Manifesto, which offers an unsparing look at the inner workings of the LAPD regarding its black officers, its female officers, and, most especially, its black female officers. Dorsey has appeared on MSNBC and contributes to The Huffington Post.



Mulholland wrote/directed the NY Times Critics Pick, Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen, which explored the 20 year friendship of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper. The feature documentary was produced by Richard Zampella at Transmultimedia Entertainment.

For more info visit:

www.dickensofdetroit.com
www.richardzampella.com
www.transmultimedia.com
www.cooperhemingway.com

October 4th – Commemorates the Birth of St Francis of Assisi

Richard Zampella Returns the Tomb of St. Francis of Assisi 37 Years Later

October 4th marks the birth of - St. Francis of Assisi. He renounced his family's wealth and founded the Friars Minor (Franciscan Order).

In 1977, I traveled to Assisi in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is the birthplace of St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan religious order in the town in 1208. On that trip I was 11 years old and brought there by my father Arthur Dante Louis Zampella (1917-1992). My father was born a Roman Catholic and despite his eventual conversion to a protestant, he never forgot his humble Catholic beginnings . Throughout his life, my father was sensitive to the unique needs pertaining to the care and protection of the elderly, animals and children. As a result, it was fitting that he would be interested in visiting the birthplace of Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology.

It was a late afternoon in 1977 that we arrived in the provincial town of Assisi. The Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Francesco, Latin: Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor—commonly known as the Franciscan Order—where St. Francis was born and died. The basilica is one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy.

Halfway down the nave of the lower basilica one can descend into the crypt via a double stairway. This burial place of St. Francis which was discovered in 1818. His remains had been hidden by Brother Elias to prevent the spread of his relics in medieval Europe. By order of Pope Pius IX a crypt was built under the lower basilica. It was designed by Pasquale Belli with precious marble in neo-classical style. But it was redesigned in bare stone in neo-Romanesque style by Ugo Tarchi between 1925 and 1932.

Upon entering the crypt and paying solemn respect to the tomb of St. Francis, I sensed a hesitation in my father that suggested that he wanted to stay for a moment. I stepped to the rear of the chapel and peered out from behind a column in order to see reason for the delay. From that spot, I observed him kneel and genuflect to signify both his respect and adoration to St. Francis. Upon rising, he turned where we caught each others eyes. In that moment we both understand that he had shown me a deeply personal side of himself. We never spoke a word, and I know he was glad that I was able to see this aspect of him. He took my hand where we quietly ascended the stairs of the basilica together.

In 2013 I returned to the crypt of St Francis to photograph the chapel and quietly reflect upon his experience with my father 37 years earlier.

Graham Yost Interview in Carmel

Screenwriter Graham Yost: Show runner of FX's Justified is interviewed for Elmore Leonard Documentary

CARMEL, CA – 10.1.15: Writer/Director John Mulholland and Producer Richard Zampella travel to Carmel, California to Interview Screenwriter Graham Yost for Elmore Leonard Documentary. Yost wrote the films Speed, Broken Arrow, and Hard Rain and helmed the FX television series Justified for 6 seasons. The series was based on Elmore Leonard's short story "Fire in the Hole".

Read more about: Elmore Leonard: The Dickens of Detroit